Changing Times

With the changing weather and other changing conditions as I get older, I find that I’m constantly changing my thinking about my photography. I used to worry about the weight of my cameras and lenses, but less now that I’m not carrying them for long distances. I used to put a lot of emphasis on the rangefinder style look of cameras just because it appealed to me, but less now. Now I’m more interested in simplifying and shrinking the number of the cameras and lenses I own to a minimal level for what I photograph and thinking more about making purposeful images.

Along with my changing thoughts about my gear, I am also learning what I would like to do with my photography. One of the things I would like to change is to make more stories with my pictures about people and put less emphasis on making pretty images that others like for daily use on my blog.

The above thoughts go hand in hand with my interests changing from always carrying a camera and looking for whatever I see, to photographing purposefully; i.e. with intent to photograph a particular subject or event, and thus not needing a small pocket camera with me at all times. My changes will also likely cause me to put less emphasis on frequent blog posts and put more effort into Homewood events, books, etc. where I don’t have to be as concerned about privacy issues relative to showing people on my blog; although I am thinking about other projects without people like I have hinted with my previous night time test articles.

The above changes are causing me to think about some camera changes such as maybe selling or giving away the TG-5 and maybe replacing the X-E3 with an X100F, or X-Pro2, or X-T2, or an X-T3 camera. These changes would mean I would only own two Fujifilm cameras plus lenses, and if I get the X-T2 or X-T3 it would mean that I would be photographing everything with cameras which have identical controls; but I still like the idea and challenge of using a Fujifilm X100F for a lot of my personal photography.

The main issue of using an X100F with the X-T2 for all of my photography is how would I handle some of my Homewood photography. For some events I have been using the 18-55mm and the 55-200mm zoom lenses on two cameras and quickly skipping back and forth between cameras. For those cases, I need to decide whether it would be possible to use the X100F with its 23mm lens along with the X-T2 with the 55-200mm zoom lens for switching back and forth.

Then there is the most practical option to just use my X-E3 and the X-T2 and not replace any of my cameras. In the end, my decision will be based on the solution which enables me to simplify while making the maximum number of images that I like.